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And I was failing.
I shifted from foot to foot, feeling restless. Jodie’s hand crept into mine and she squeezed hard. I was grateful to her for turning up. Especially since I’d been MIA this last week.
Finally, the service, such as it was, came to an end. I turned away, unable to stand it for much longer. To my surprise, I caught sight of Detective Reed, standing by his car, his hands in his pockets, looking back at me.
I turned to Jodie. “Hey, could you call an Uber and make sure my Lita gets home? I gotta go talk to that cop.” I indicated the detective with a jerk of my chin, not wanting my grandma to see. If the detective had bad news, I wanted to know about it first.
“Sure, babe. Go on, I’ll take care of her.” Jodie squeezed my hand before taking my grandma’s arm with one hand, while calling for an Uber with the other. They headed down towards the gates, and I headed for the detective.
I came to a stop a few yards away from him and just stared.
“Detective,” I said, trying to sound brave. I didn’t like that he was here—it did not feel right.
“Miss Young.” He nodded to me, straightening up from his lean. “How are you?”
“I’m worried. What are you doing here? Did you find something?” I couldn’t help how my voice trembled.
He shook his head, looking away, and then extracted an envelope from his pocket. “No. I didn’t. I had asked you to leave this alone, but I know you didn’t. I know you’ve been hanging around at Pandemonium. I can’t tell you how much of a mistake that is. I’m hoping this will convince you.” He held the envelope out to me.
I stared at it warily, wondering if I should take it. Every instinct in me was screamingno.
“What is it?”
He pushed it at me. “Take it. Read it when you’re alone.”
I reached out for the envelope. “Why are you giving me this?”
He sighed. “I couldn’t do anything for your sister. But maybe I can saveyou.”
“I don’t need to be saved, sir. I want my sister back.”
He turned, opening the door to his car. “Yeah well, you’re not gonna get her.”
He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine as I stared at him in disbelief.
Engine roaring, he turned to look at me. “Leave it alone, Nora.”
He took off with a roar, accelerating down the cemetery lane before disappearing into traffic. I watched until his car completely disappeared before heading to a nearby bench and flopping down on it.
I stared down at the envelope, wondering if I should open it… if I should read it. Whatever was in there, I knew it was nothing good.
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I have to know,” I whispered to myself before opening it and peering inside. I reached in and extracted the contents.
It was a file.
With a noisy sigh, I opened it. Alexei’s picture stared at me from the front page with his stats printed neatly beside it.
Alexei Levin.
Born January 4th, 1991
That would make him thirty-one. Huh. He’s younger than I realized.
Father: deceased.
Mother: Detained in Russia.
I remembered that I had read that in a blog. She was arrested for killing her husband, it said. The document went on to document all of Alexei Levin’s suspected crimes. Top of the list was murder. He was thought to be culpable at the very least in his father’s death as well as a suspect in various other deaths. He was a drug dealer and thought to be the head of the New York branch of the Bratva Organized crime family.
